Dougie
by skwirelygurli
Summary: When Ally goes over to Austin's house, she gets a couple of surprises. Auslly.


**Dougie, an Ally & Austin fiction**

**I do not own Austin & Ally. Enjoy and respond! ****(Edited for last line.)**

He's no Dallas, but he's cute enough to fret over. Because she has a date with a cute boy, and she wants this to work. She wants to forget how good it felt to be wrapped in Austin's arms. (and Dez and Trish's. DeMonica's assistant, not so much.)

It's a feeling she'd rather not forget if she had the choice. Except she doesn't have a choice if she doesn't want to have those feeling. The feelings that make her write love songs. And he already made it very clear. He does not do love songs.

She sits in front of the mirror, applying her lip gloss. His name is Trenton. As in the capital of New Jersey. There must be some sort of subconscious attachment to boys named after cities. At least he wasn't named after somewhere in Texas. It'd be her luck to meet and marry some guy named Houston and always remember the time Austin read her book. When he thought that she had a crush on him because he was named after a Texas city. When he went out of his way to be sweaty and orange because he didn't want to be with her _like that_.

She should have given him that stupid hug.

Now she's holding two different outfits up to the mirror, and has absolutely no idea why she's doing this. Because if it's only to get over a love that never happened, then she should cancel now and spend the night writing lyrics about unrequited love. Not in her book though. She doesn't want Austin finding them, even if he isn't supposed to be reading her book. She knows how he is with rules.

She could keep on what she's wearing now. It's just he already saw her in this outfit when he asked her out this morning. He deserves to see she put forth an effort. As far as she knows anyway. They just met today, him being new to Miami.

Where from?

Texas of course. Everything comes back to the Lonestar state.

Ally is tired of being a lone star.

She checks the time on her clock. They aren't supposed to meet for another hour. Even then, they'll be going to the movies. Where it's dark, and he won't be able to see what she's wearing.

Picking up both outfits, she heads out the door.

Austin is sitting on the edge of his bed, tuning his guitar. A knock sounds off the door.

"Come in," he responds, looking up. He knows it isn't Dez. He doesn't knock anymore. Ally walks into the room, caring the outfits behind her by their hangers. "Oh hey, Ally. What's behind your back?"

She pulls the hangers in front of her. "I need your help picking what to wear on my date tonight."

His fingers stop toying with the pegs. "You have a date tonight?"

"You were there when he asked me," she deadpans.

"I didn't know you said yes." He nearly losses his grip on his guitar. He catches it with a rather noisy clanging. She moves towards him and props the guitar up. Then she sits down next to him.

He scooches away, not enough to be noticed, just enough to clear his mind of certain thoughts. "So why are you asking me for advice? Don't girls normally ask other girls?"

"Trish is having a Zalien marathon with Dez. Which I really don't get because they say they aren't friends, but she's at his house, and they're in their matching costumes again. And Trish said that they were going to order pizza. But he likes mushrooms, and she likes pepperoni. She'll want to go out to get it, but he'll want to order in, and then they'll get in a fight. Which will probably mean Dez's house will be-." Austin places his hand on her thigh.

"Okay! If I help you will you stop talking?" She closes her mouth and nods. Her brown eyes beam up at him, and for a minute he forgets to remove his hand. He does so awkwardly. They break gazes, her's jumping to the other side of the bed.

There sits Dougie the Dolphin. As in, _you've been such a great friend singing the butterfly song and helping me with my stage fright, so I've decided you can have my dolphin after all _Dougie.

She leans over and picks him up. "You keep Dougie the Dolphin on your bed?"

Austin blushes, ducking his head. "Well yeah. He's too cute to shove in a closet. Even if Dez thinks he's stupid."

"I still have the clown picture in my bedroom." She doesn't know why she's admitting it. Maybe it's because he's her friend, and it's her job to make him happy. So that he's not alone. She has something of his, and he has something of hers.

Two somethings if you count her heart.

He raises his head. A smile forms across his face. "Did you get a new blue crayon?"

She shakes her head no. She's smiling like him, because it's contagious and she's in so deep, without a clue as how to get out.

And for once in her life, she finds it doesn't matter.

The laughter dies down. He takes Dougie from her. He's not as big as a guitar, but he can still hide behind him. So she doesn't see how he's asking as more than a friend. A jealous friend, with more than friendly intentions.

"So why'd you say yes to this date? You barely know the guy." He pets the dolphin to keep his hands busy.

She looks to the outfits stacked next to her. She had almost forgotten why she came over. Almost forgotten that she was supposed to meet Trenton in forty minutes.

She still hasn't forgotten how it feels to be in his arms though.

The truth. It's what she should tell him. She should say 'I_'m trying to get over you, because obviously this date won't make you jealous and realize you love me.'_ Instead, "He seemed nice."

Austin frowns. Not a, _I'm a sucker for a boy with blond hair and sensitive eyes (__because Trenton did, just like him__), _or _Maybe I'll get a song out of it _or his personal favorite, _I'm making you insanely jealous, and coming over here was just an excuse to rub it in your face that I look good in every outfit that I wear for a boy who isn't you._

Yeah, that last one summed it up pretty well.

"Besides," she continues, "if things don't work out, there's the possibility of getting a song out of it."

His frown cracks. It doesn't turn into a smile, but it's better. He gets up, setting Dougie in his place. He picks up the two outfits and hands one to her. "You should wear this one." He then hands her the second outfit.

She stands, brushing the wrinkles out of her skirt. "Thanks Austin. I should probably get going if I want to get back home to change before heading out to meet him."

"You could get changed here. See, I'll cover my eyes." He makes a show of covering his entire face with his hands. She pries them off.

His hands are in hers, lingering near his face. The tops of the hangers are digging into his palm. He can't feel it. Not with her face _that _close. He's lucky he can feel his legs.

One of the dresses droops off the edge of the hanger. She doesn't make a move to fix it. He twitches his fingers against the fabric, trying to grab it before the dress he chose falls off. He ends up pushing it further off. The outfit falls to the ground.

The spell breaks. They both duck down. He grabs one edge of the fabric, and her hand lands on top of his. He can't take it anymore. He needs to move past this just friends zone.

So he does.

It's over in a matter of seconds.

He swallows, finding his throat dry. "Did that inspire a song?"

"I have to go." She gathers the dress and searches for the hanger. It had been in her hand a minute ago.

"No you don't." The hanger is in his hand. His grip is loose enough to let her take it. Take the hanger, take the leave, take his heart.

Except she already has that.

She takes the hanger from him. She's scared. Scared to lose it all. So instead she slips the hanger back through the neck and stands. She walks out the door and it takes way too much effort to get back up again.

He sits on the floor, crashing his head back into the bed. Dougie falls into his lap. He looks him in the eyes. It stings. His song writer, his partner and friend, his heart walked through his bedroom door.

And all he has left is her dolphin and an un-tuned guitar.

He hears a voice in the hallway. It's faint. He pulls himself together and moves to the door, pressing his ear against it.

"I'm so sorry." Incoherent mumbling. "No, I won't be rescheduling." More mumbling. "You too. Bye."

There's a beep. Then a knock. He waits. "Austin, I know you're on the other side of that door."

He opens it. Her hand stops buttoning her phone back into her vest pocket. He doesn't know which hand to take. The left is holding the two hangers, the right is stuck in a button hole. He takes the hangers instead, hanging them on the door knob.

"I canceled on Trenton," she tells him like he doesn't already know.

"Why?" His spirit is lifted. He hopes it's because of the kiss. He hopes that she's picked him over that cowpoke.

She straightens his collar. "You know why."

He leans down. His mouth stops in front of her's. _Is this okay?_ it asks. Funny how before he went in for the kill, and now he's asking permission after he's gotten her. He supposes it means something more. Maybe his mouth is asking _does this make us more than friends? _or _are you going to leave me this time? _It doesn't matter, because her mouth is speaking volumes back, despite her being unusually quiet.

If he had known this would keep her quiet, he would have tried it a long time ago.

She moves to hug him. Her body feels free, relief coursing through her veins. Her head nestles into the crook between his head and shoulder. Over his shoulder she spots the stuffed dolphin on the ground.

"Why is Dougie on the ground?" She separates from him.

"We thought we lost you." She picks him up and sets him on the bed. "We were comforting each other. Even though it only was a couple of minutes."

Ally picks up his guitar from where she had last propped it. He sits next to her. She strums and he turns the pegs.

Trish and Dez walk into the Sonic Boom late the next day to find Austin and Ally upstairs in the practice room. Where they are most definitely not practicing. At least, not music.

"What's going on?" Trish asks, interrupting.

"Just trying to find some inspiration for new lyrics." Austin replies smoothly. Ally squirms nervously.

Dez high fives Trish. "Plan _get Austin and Ally together by making him insanely jealous _has been a success."

Austin would question it, but he has more important things to do. "Trish, don't you have a job to be at?"

Trish takes the hint and drags Dez out with her.

"So you planned all of this happening?" he teases, running his fingers along the piano keys.

"No." She thinks about going after Trish to figure out what exactly happened, but his fingers move from the piano to her arm, and she finds it hard to care.

Tucking a hair behind his ear she utters one last thing. "But I am so glad it did."


End file.
